FigJam

FigJam is a whiteboard tool created by Figma, our main design tool. In this guide you will learn the basics and let you discover all FigJam has to offer.

FigJam vs Miro

FigJam is quite similar to use as Miro, but has a big advantage that it brings all of our design files and boards together. Making it a great place to keep design and product in sync.

It also has some additional advantages like quick copy & paste between Figma and FigJam files and it uses similar tools, plus permissions, sharing and comments are exactly the same in both file types.

If you already learned something about Figma in our basic and advanced courses, you will easily find your way in FigJam.

Importing from Miro

To move your Miro boards to FigJam, you can export it as PDF and import it by dragging onto the overview or open a board and go to Figma logo > File > Import.

Not every element will be converted perfectly, but it can save you some time by importing a board instead of recreating it from scratch.

Create a board

To create a file you click on the ... button in your tab bar or + New in a project and select FigJam file. Or you go to figjam.new or figma.com/jam

The interface

FigJam has a few different tools which you can find on the top of the screen and on the floating toolbar. This toolbar contains all creation tools, here you can find:

  • The move and select tools
  • Drawing tools (marker, highlighter, washi tape and eraser)
  • Shapes
  • Sticky notes
  • More (Stickers, Templates, Widgets, Plugins, Code blocks, Images, Links)
  • Connectors
  • Stamp tool: This can be used to place stickers (thumbs up & down, heart, start, +1, ...) and share emotes and start cursor chat
  • Sections

On the top of the screen you can find a timer, voting tool, templates and comments

General actions

The Figma logo contains all actions available in FigJam, so if you ever need to lookup a shortcut or can't find a way to do something, you can probably find it there. You can also change your board preferences in this menu, for example your keyboard layout, snapping to the dots, ...

An even faster way to find something is by using the ⌘ + P shortcut. This will open a Spotlight like command bar where you can search for any tool or option.

Timer

The timer is great to time box parts of a workshop or meeting. You can start a timer, use some fitting music and you will be notified once it's over.

Vote

The voting tool allows you to capture votes without having to manually count them. Start a voting session, choose a title and how many votes every person can cast.

When a voting session is active you will see that the Stamp tool is activated and this is used to cast votes. You can choose any stamp you want, this is just a visual preference and it won't change the votes. After casting all of your votes, it will show a message '"I'm done".

After ending the voting session, you will see an overview of all votes and you can easily zoom to them after clicking the vote count. You can have multiple voting sessions in the same board, you can view the history by going to the results tab in the Vote tool.

Note: Votes can only be casts on objects (text, stickies, shapes, images, links, ...), so you won't be able to place a vote on the background of the board.

Templates

Templates are a great way to start a board without having create something from scratch. Scroll down to learn more about template.

Comments

You can use comments as a way to work asynchronously together, more about this in the working together section.

Want to learn shortcuts to work faster?

Click the ? icon in the bottom right and select Keyboard Shortcuts. This will show you an interactive menu with all shortcuts you've already use and which ones you still have to learn.

Sharing boards

You can share boards or parts of your boards very easily. Make sure you understand the permission well, so only the people who should see the board can access it.

Permissions

It's important to know who as access to a board, to make sure content is secured. So take a close look at the permissions every time you create and share boards.

Here's are all permission settings:

  • Anyone with the link: This will open up the board to everyone who has access to the link

  • Anyone with the link and password: Only people with the single password can access the board

  • Anyone at In The Pocket with the link: Anyone in our organisation can view the link (important: this can also include clients if you invite them as a member of a team)

  • Anyone at In The Pocket: The board will be visible in the project overview to anyone in our team

  • Only people invited to this file: only individually invited people can access the board

Open sessions

When working together with clients or other people outside of the organisation, you can use the Open Session feature. This will open up the board to everyone, even if they don't have a Figma account. This makes it easy to collaborate together without the hassle of managing invitations and account. After your done, you can close the session and the open access will be revoked. If you forget, it will also close automatically after 24 hours.

Exporting

If you don't want to invite someone to a board, or want to use parts of your board somewhere else, you can export specific sections or elements.

To do so, select the section or element you want to export, right click and choose "Export selection. You can also use the SHIFT + CMD + E shortcut. This will open up a dialog to lets you choose the file type, background and also gives you the option the change the export area, this is useful if you want to export the entire board.

Links

If you want to share a board, you can use the share button in the top right corner. But you can also share a link to any element on the board. After sharing it, the viewer will automatically be zoomed in to the element you shared. Making it a bit easier to show what you want them to look at.

To do this, select the element, right click and choose "Copy link"

Working together

There are different ways you can work together in a FigJam board, at the same time or asynchronous.

Emotes

Share some quick reactions while you're in the same board to show what you are thinking. You can find the emotes in the Stamp tool (shortcut E) and click the smiley button, choose an emote and long click anywhere on the board.

Cursor Chat

Cursor chat can be used when you're in the same file, but have no audio on. Your cursor will transform into a chat bubble and you can type away. These message will automatically disappear, so make sure you don't use it for important decision making.

Comments

If you want a more permanent record of conversations and want to work asynchronously, you can use comments. Simply select the Comment tool or hold C, now you can click anywhere to leave a comment.

You can also mention other people so they will be notified via email, Figma or Slack about your comment.

Audio

On the top right you can find an audio button, this will start an audio conversation for everyone in the file. Joining is optional, so you can just hop in whenever you want to. A helpful feature when you don't want to start a Zoom meeting or Slack huddle.

FigJam & Figma = ❤️

You can easily copy and paste anything back and forth between Figma and FigJam files and still be able to edit them.

You can also use component variants and edit any field. This is a great way to experiment with interface elements and use them in workshops.

Plugins & Widgets

You can do a lot with the built in tools, but plugins and widgets can help you create what you want even better. Here's a short list of some great plugins and widgets that can help you get started.

Magic Marker

Recognize shapes in drawings and automatically create shapes.

View Magic Marker

Create Sticky from text

Paste a list and transform it to stickies

View Create Sticky from text

FlyOver

Navigate your file in a structured way for smooth presentations

View FlyOver

Jira

View the latest status of tickets

View Jira

Community

You can find even more plugins and widgets via Figma Community, you can also take a look at our list of curated plugins.

Custom widgets or plugins

If you have a great idea for a custom widget or plugin, you can find out more in the Developer documentation or send us a request via Slack.

Templates

Templates are the easiest way to get started. Hosting a workshop, retro or want to jam together on some ideas, you can likely find an existing template in the Figma Community.

You can select templates in the top toolbar or in the more section. These are categorised by type, so you can quickly find what you might be looking for.

If you can't find an existing template or need some help figuring out how to create a board, you can always reach out to the design team so we can help getting you started.

Need help?

Recording of our intro session

You can watch a recording of our first intro session over on Rewatch.

Slack

Join the #figjam slack channel for any questions or requests.

Figma office Hours

Join our Figma Office Hours for any Figma or FigJam related questions. Sign up now, hop in the call and we'll answer your questions.

Want to learn more about Figma?

Anything wrong or missing?

Let us know in the #figjam channel so we can fix it.